Have you ever really thought about the fact that, as a woman, when you walk into a drugstore, you head straight towards the colorful, bright toiletry aisle that is filled with pink razors, fruity scented body products, and aisles upon aisles of makeup that we're convinced that we need? This is where the "pink tax" comes in to play. The "pink tax" is, essentially, the increased prices that are placed on these "pink" items. The New York City Department of Consumers Affairs came out with a study that provided us with evidence of this. Are you irritated yet? The study found that women actually do pay around 7 percent more than men for essentially the same toiletries and products. This is even seen in clothing stores everywhere, especially with plus sized clothing. An average item of women's plus sized clothing at Old Navy is $15 more than a man's comparable plus sized clothing item. Are we fuming yet?
So, why would companies do this? It's simply because they can. They know that by throwing some colorful packaging or a few enticing words on that stick of deodorant, like "natural" or "soothing," that women will pay more. For example, Degree deodorants have been found to be up to 90 cents more expensive than the same men's deodorant.
While some gendered items are actually useful and needed for women, such as a cool new guitar on the market that perfectly fits around a woman's breasts so that it is easier to play, others are not and they're actually quite comical.
I bet that you ladies didn't even know that you were struggling with writing using those awful regular Bic pens, using your dainty little lady hands.
Drop your Monsters and Red Bulls ladies, those were apparently never for you. Why would you not spend money on "beautiful energy" and buy those regular "men's" energy drinks?
Finally, it's a beer that we can drink!
So, what can we do about this?
Well, for starters, we can start asking questions, raising eyebrows, and drawing attention to these issues. The Huffington Post recently presented the question: "Why do women with short hair pay more at salons for haircuts than men with the same length of short hair?" It really got me thinking. We, as a society, truly need to call out discrimination when we see it. Your voice could be the change, even if it is you just demanding fairness or simply asking for a company's reasoning behind something.
Another easy action would be to actually stop buying these products that use women to make more money. Buying "men's" deodorant or razors is a simple thing that we can do to show these companies that we're not playing their mind games.
Do you need more proof? Check out this experiment featured on Bustle:
